Transcendents who weren’t part of organizations or have special skills like potions making tend to have a lack of credits. One of the best ways for such Transcendents to earn credits was through dungeons.

These massive cave systems were filled to the brim with monsters and ruled by semi-sentient spirits who could control all of the monsters within the dungeon and even alter its physical form. They were born deep under the earth and over time, would shape the stone around them, creating multiple chambers that lead away from them.

Soon, monsters were attracted to these chambers and the dungeon spirit put them under its control. Once a monster was bound to a chamber it could not leave and the closer the chambers were to the dungeon spirit, the stronger the monsters inside it would be. This was why Dungeons were so important to Transcendents. Unlike in the wild, there was an assurance that the monsters in each chamber were of a certain strength.They could fight to increase their combat skill and also obtain precious materials from the corpses.

The Ceres War Guild owned the Ceres Dungeon, though anyone could use the dungeon not just Guild members. However, Guild members only had to pay out three percent of the value of their loot whereas everyone else paid out nine percent.

Seifer and Orion were able to quickly access the Dungeon since they were Guild Members. As soon as they stepped inside, they were enveloped by the Darkness but as Second Step Transcendents, they were able to perceive their surroundings just fine.

In a few seconds, their first challenger had arrived. A reptilian monster with deep green scales and beady black eyes reared its head at Seifer and hissed ferociously at him. He kicked it with a fraction of his full strenght and the lizard splattered against the wall.

“This is just the first chamber, nothing here is a threat to us. Let's go to the ninth chamber and then see where to go from there” said Orion.

Seifer agreed and a few minutes later, they had killed their way into the ninth chamber. In here, killing the monsters actually required effort on their part though it was still not a true challenge.

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Initially, each chamber had dozens of monsters but the deeper they went, the fewer monsters each chamber contained. From the tenth chamber onwards, each chamber was occupied by a singular monster. It was right as they entered the twelfth chamber that a real threat appeared. A giant cat like creature lunged out at them, Orion was almost hit by the massive claws. Seifer threw a dagger at it in the nick of time, allowing Orion to escape unscathed.

The grey furred beast turned its attention to Seifer, lunging at him with its maw wide open. He stepped back slightly, allowing Orion to draw the first blood when he sliced through the monster’s cheek.

Enraged, the massive beast roared, making them stumble from the sheer volume of it. With a simple nod they communicated the most basic of plans and simultaneously cut at both sides of its neck.

The two of them fought it for almost half an hour. If Seifer had actually been trying to kill the monster it wouldn’t have taken even half this time to end things but his goal was something else entirely.

Over the half hour, he carefully arranged for Orion to be in danger multiple times and each time, Seifer saved him. He also allowed Orion to “save” him a few times but made sure that he was in a position to escape the danger himself if Orion failed to do so.

At last, the beast was killed when Orion sliced the back of its head open while it fell down from a stab wound to its feet, a well-timed attack planned by Seifer.

“I told you we should have stopped with the eleventh one” groaned Orion as he plopped down on to the floor.

“We could have died, huh?” replied Seifer as he joined Orion on the ground.

“That’s just how the War Guild is” said Orion as he started chuckling.

“I suppose some good came out of this, though” said Seifer.

“What do you mean?” asked a confused Orion.

“The reason I asked you to help me with the War Guild wasn’t just to gain experience but also to get to know you better before the mission. Now I’ve experienced what it’s like to face danger with you” said Seifer.

“Well, we've saved each other’s lives now, how much better can you get to know someone?” said Orion with a chuckle but Seifer could sense the slight guilt that had appeared in his heart.

“This is the part where you invite me into your home” said Seifer jokingly, or rather pretending to say it jokingly.

“You know what, I could use a drink. Let’s go” said Orion.

Orion was right, there was no faster way to build friendships than saving each other’s lives. The combination of the “danger” he had engineered and the guilt he had caused Orion to feel was what ensured that Seifer would be invited today.